Outsiders
by Temperance Isaack
Summary: I've never seen anything wrong with being a little different, especially at a place like Hogwarts. But Mairead and Eve are more than a little different. They're true outsiders, cast aside in a hidden world. Like any teen girls, they want nothing more than to be accepted by their peers. Tonight, they're in luck... (Same sex pairing, mild language, and unicorns. please r&r!)


Somewhere in the field of daisies beyond the trees of the forbidden forest, a teenaged girl with frizzy scarlet hair sat, cross-legged, leaning back on her arms and watching the stars above her. Her name was Mairead MacTire. Her ears twitched slightly to hear each sound around her.

Behind her, another girl hovered slightly above the daisies, careful not to make a sound. Her silent breath was cold, and her shoulder length black hair did not move in the breeze. She slowly stalked Mairead, who had begun to hum a Muggle song. Closer...closer...aaaaand, "BOO!" she flung herself at the other girl, who screamed in terror. She jumped up, and planted a well-placed round house to her attacker's face.

"ARE YOU MAD?!" Mairead shouts, upon seeing that her attacker was her best friend, Eve Campbell. "WHAT IF I'D OF GONE FOR MY WAND?! I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!" she breathes, trying to slow her heart beat. Eve just grins up at her, rubbing her now red and swollen cheek. She waved her wand at it, and the swelling subsided. It was still a little red, though.

Mairead caught her breath, and sat back down with the fain crunch of grass beneath her. "Sorry..." she said, staring shame facedly at the ground. Eve smiled wider. "S'okay."

Mairead looked up, her eyes still apologetic, but her face smiling crookedly. "You still haven't answered the first question."

Eve blinked, and thought for a moment. "Well, o' course I am. I 'spect that's why we're friends." She shows her razor sharp teeth in a good-natured way. Mairead snorted, rolling her eyes, but she smiled still. It was incredibly hard to be angry at Eve: her first and best friend.

When Mairead was four years old, she was attacked by one of Voldemort's old werewolf pals. Her parents were members of the Order of the Phoenix, and after Voldemort "disappeared", Death Eaters were sent to kill the family. Mairead was in the yard, digging for worms to go fishing with her dad later that day. Fenrir Greyback watched little Mairead playing in the yard with her father.

Greyback had a thing for children. When he saw the little girl, he decided to wait for nightfall, when under the full moon, he'd be in full wolf form.

That night, Greyback broke into the house and massacred Mairead's family. He infected the little girl, and left her for dead when authorities arrived. Mairead was sent to Saint Mungo's, where she stayed until they were certain she would live.

Sadly, though, the curse that Greyback left her with would stay with her for the rest of her life. She was sent to stay with her Great Aunt Gertrude, a rather eccentric old witch who lived in a tiny cabin in the mountains of northern Scotland.

Eve also had a pained past. At the age of nine, on a trip to Romania, she left her parent's side for a moment. In that moment, those slow moving seconds, a vampire swooped from a tree behind her. It took mere seconds for it to drain her. But, the guilty vampire left it's venom in her veins, and just enough blood to bring the poison to the girl's heart. Eve Campbell transformed, painfully and slowly, and became a pale creature, with superhuman abilities and senses

Her parents, magical naturalists, sought help from Dumbledore. He invented for the little girl a blood substitute. The repulsive brew was hard at first for Eve to swallow, but she grew accustomed to it, and the bloodlust subsided. As a downside, her senses were dulled to almost-human ability.

Two years later, the magical misfits met and became instant friends.

Mairead stuffed her hair behind her ear and laid face down on the ground. She took a long, deep whiff of the earth. Eve smiled. "You seem glad to be done with that essay, Mai."

Mairead nodded, and rolled over onto her back. "Yea. Can you believe that Sluggy made me write it three times? He said he couldn't read my handwriting..."

Eve smiled at her friend. "You do know there are spells for that...

Mairead rolled over onto her belly again and propped herself up on her arms. "Now you tell me."

Eve laughed. "Sorry-"

"Wait!" cut in Mairead. "Shush..." her ears twitched to catch every faint sound. Eve's smile faided, as a look of worry took its place. "What...?" she whispered.

Mairead shook her head. "I...don't know. I don't quite recognise the scent..." Eve moved behind Mairead, trying to "see" what the other girl could. She strained every muscle in her body, tensing her fingers and neck. Focus...She was in Mairead's mind. There! The surroundings through the eyes of a seeing through the eyes of a werewolf were sharp and clear. She could see every movement, even the wind. She blankly wondered whether it was always like this for Mairead. Then, she lost focus and the connection broke.

"Maybe," Eve suggested, her voice nervously wavering, "maybe it's just a first year you haven't met yet?" Her voice was a cross between worry and persuasive reasoning.

"Nah...whatever it is, it isn't human...no, do you smell that?"

Eve closed her eyes and sniffed the air. "Yea, honey and begonias..." she mused, moving closer to Mairead. "What is it?"

"I smell fresh soil and lavender...I...I think I know what it is." She stared, wide-eyed, and inched closer to the edge of the wood, where a faint glow misted out from behind the trees.

Eve grabbed her arm. "Don't go towards it! It's prolly a will-o'-the-wisp!"

Mairead turned to face the worried girl. "Nah. It's not a will-o'-the-wisp..." Her yellow eyes bore into Eve's red ones, "trust me." She faced the forest again, where the light grew stronger and stronger. "They usually leave their scent on trees...I didn't recognise it because I've only encountered them under full moons..." she winked back at Eve, who'd become increasingly concerned for her friend's mental health. Or lack thereof...

They watched, transfixed, as the bluish-white glow became ever brighter. Soft hoof beats set a sort of background music, clip clip clip clip muffled on the scattering of leaves and pine needles that was the forest floor.

Then, from behind the trees came a ghostly white creature. It was enormous, about the size of a young elephant, and its silken mane blew in a nonexistent breeze. Crowning its majesty was a large, pointed horn on its forehead. They'd be found by a Unicorn.

The beast nodded its head and scuffed the ground with its hooves. Eve started for it, cooing at the animal, but Mairead stopped her, putting her hand over the other's mouth. "NO...no. It has to choose you."

Eve defeatedly nodded, and Mairead put her hand down. "What do we do, Mai?" The other girl shrugged. "I have no idea..." The beast watched them, and it moved toward them. Mairead's nervous hand found Eve's and clutched it. Eve squeezed Mairead's hand reassuringly. The Unicorn could sense the comfort that the two felt for each other, and for nature. It decided.

The Unicorn trotted to stand directly in front of them. You are worthy. I choose you. The words seemed to emanate from the Unicorn or from nowhere... It touched the ground with its mighty horn. The grass receded, and then returned, weaving a circle around the girls.

The breath caught in Mairead's chest. The Unicorn slowly leaned forward, toward them, and touched their clasped hands with its horn. From It felt like warm water was rushing from her pores. Against her own will, she gasped; the air around them was cold, but they were so warm. She felt her whole body give way, and the grown rose beneath her. They'd fainted.

Just as morning began to reach them over the mountains, Eve's eyes fluttered open. She glanced over at Mairead, and grinned. She stood, sleepily, and stretched. She looked back down at Mairead's sleeping form.

Hours later, Mairead woke up from the best sleep she'd had in her life. Momentarily forgetting the night before, she panicked slightly at her surroundings. Then, she remembered the Unicorn. She looked around for Eve, who was nowhere to be seen. "E?"

The before mentioned Eve promptly jumped from an above tree limb. "Right here! Hey, you're not going to believe this, but," she showed her neck, which had been marred by the scars from her encounter with a vampire eight years before. "They're gone!" said Mairead. It was true; the blue and purple bite marks had vanished with no trace.

"Lemme see your back," said Eve, turning her friend around and pulling up her shirt. "Nothing! Completely clear!" Eve ran her hands over Mairead's back in disbelief. The skin, once ragged and stark white, like there was gravel underneath, was now smooth as velvet and tanned.

"Does this mean…?" Eve asks, wonder in her eyes.

"E! You're eyes are brown! They're brown!" Mairead exclaimed.

"Yours are blue!" Eve replied.

"Really?" Mairead's hands flew immediately to her face. "Wow…I never knew what my natural eye color was…" Eve smiled, causing Mairead to blush. Eve took note of this, but didn't count much on it. "I guess the only foreseeable issue is that we are now, officially, human."

"Not that we actually have tell anyone…" countered Eve.

Suddenly, Mairead's head filled with the various things she'd learned over the years about Unicorns. "Do you remember that time in fifth year when Grubblyplank subbed for Hagrid, and she gave that lesson on Unicorns?"

Eve tilted her head to the side, trying to recall but… "I think I was just imagining riding an armor-plated Unicorn into battle…" she said, blushing slightly.

Mairead rolled her new blue eyes. "Well, only two other people have ever been recorded as being chosen by a Unicorn."

Eve crossed her fingers, "Morgana Le Fey and Merlin. Morgana Le Fey and Merlin…"

Her friend raised a surprised eyebrow, "Yea, actually, you're right."

"YES! They're just my favorites; I wanted it to be them…"

Mairead, not really listening to the other girl, said, "If you'd have paid attention in class, you'd know that after they were chosen, they had a huge row and never spoke again." She looks Eve dead in the eye. "Then, ten years later, they met again. Morgana went full out evil. There was a battle, and both of them were killed in the end."

"Yes, but that won't happen. Neither of us is nearly that self-centered…"

"Still. We need to tell Headmistress McGonagall. And prolly Hagrid, too. We don't have many references, there are almost no records left of Merlin and Morgana."

Eve sighed, but gave in.

"Also…" Mairead began.

"Also what?"

"Well, last night, when the Unicorn came to us…Nah, it's not important, it's stupid. Don't worry about it."

Eve stopped walking. "Mai? What? Tell me."

"No, it's not important."

A minute goes by. "Do you slaughter children to use in bizarre magic rituals?"

"WHAT?! NO! YOU'RE YOU…YOU ARE THE MOST INFURIATING, INSANE NUTTER ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET…I…I…" With that, Mairead took Eve's face in both hands and kissed her passionately. Then, as if being struck by lightning, she stumbled backward and sprinted away.

Eve was speechless, something most of her friends would've sworn was impossible. She blinked a few times, and then, coming from a trance, she grinned foxily. "Took her long enough!" She took off sprinting after Mairead.

Mairead ran blindly, not realizing how fast she was going, or even where. She stumbled onto the Hogwarts greens and ran face-first into Hagrid.

Eve followed closely behind, and caught Mairead before she hit the ground. "Wow, you're fast!"

Mairead cried, curling into a ball. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

"Why are you sorry? I've been fighting not to do that since second year!" She held Mairead closer, cradling the girl to her chest and stroked her hair, picking out twigs and leaves.

Mairead was silent; she just stared over Eve's shoulder.

"What?" Eve craned her neck to see what Mairead was looking at. There stood Professor McGonagall, hands on her hips, looking very displeased. "What are you students doing out of bed so early?"

"Well, Ma'am," said Mairead, rubbing her swollen eyes. "It's kind of a long story…"

* * *

PLEASE R&R! Also, thanks to Arora&Amira for the awesome idea! You're the best, Burger!


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